tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11326364.post6043822985481631694..comments2015-03-03T02:43:25.759-05:00Comments on <center>CasesBlog - Medical and Health Blog</center>: U.S. Life Expectancy Shorter Than 41 CountriesVes Dimov, M.D.noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11326364.post-19936789657487859172007-08-14T12:32:00.000-04:002007-08-14T12:32:00.000-04:00Additonal causes for US life expectancy being less...Additonal causes for US life expectancy being less than major European nations and Japan:<BR/><BR/>More deaths and lifespan reducing injuries from military service.<BR/><BR/>Much higher usage of guns and resulting deaths and injuries.<BR/><BR/>Higher automotive related injury and deaths.<BR/><BR/>Much higher percentage of population incarcerated.<BR/><BR/>Higher immigration from countries with lower life expectancy. <BR/><BR/>Lower US abortion rates affect infant mortality.<BR/><BR/>Finally, it is interesting to note the correlation between latitude and life expectancy. The countries that rank higher than the US are almost all at latitudes higher than most of the US population, while if you break the US life expectancy statistics down state by state, you'll find again a significant north over south advantage (exclude Florida which is disproportionately populated by retirees migrating from the north). <BR/><BR/>Conceivably there is a difference is sun exposure, or perhaps colder climates keep people indoors and at home in winter and less exposed to automotive deaths or violent deaths as in the southern US. Or there may be cultural factors such as fundamentalist religious beliefs, that affect this.<BR/><BR/>I don't know of any nationwide epidemiological work that has catalogued the factors and done multivariate regression work on them to assess the causal hypotheses. It seems like an awfully worthwhile project but a daunting one, and the obesity factor is an astonishingly rapidly moving target that is hard to capture. If anyone has a link to something like that, please post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com